


Lost

by Hairofgoldeyesofblue



Category: The Newsroom (US TV)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Gen, Minor Character Death, Season 3 Spoilers, Season/Series 03
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-11
Updated: 2014-07-14
Packaged: 2018-02-08 10:29:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1937463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hairofgoldeyesofblue/pseuds/Hairofgoldeyesofblue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the eight years Will has known Mackenzie, he's only seen her cry twice.</p><p>My interpretation/theory on certain spoilers for the series finale.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> If you've been following the spoilers for season three, you know there is a funeral in the series finale. This fic is my interpretation/theory of what Sorkin has planned.

The first time Will saw Mackenzie cry was when she found out her father had suffered a heart attack.

They had been dating for nine months, and Will was all-too familiar with the slightly hardened façade that his girlfriend had perfected over her career in journalism. He remembered walking into her office with lunch from the deli that she liked a couple blocks over. Her office had been surprisingly empty, and with a little help from a nearby intern, he found her out on the terrace.

Mackenzie’s back was to him; she was clutching her Blackberry in her right hand and it looked like she was shivering (she didn’t have a jacket on and it _was_ February, after all). She didn’t turn around when Will called her name, and when he approached he realized she wasn’t shaking from the cold. He quickly realized her body had been taken over with the kind of all-consuming shuddering that can only mean tears.

“Mac,” Will said softly, but urgently, “what’s wrong?”

He reached out to carefully lay a hand on her shoulder and when Mackenzie felt the touch, she jumped and looked up at him, only just noticing he was there. Her cheeks were tearstained, her eyes were red and puffy, and she appeared to be hyperventilating slightly. Will wrapped his arms around her and immediately felt her body sag into his.

Will simply held her while she rambled through short, unsteady breaths and moved rapidly from shock to denial. It took ten minutes for Mackenzie to calm down enough to be able to tell him the news about her father – how her mother had called from the ambulance; how her parents had only _just_ moved back to London from Washington; how she had _just_ seen him and he’d seemed perfectly healthy…

It was over seven years before he saw Mackenzie cry again.


	2. Chapter 2

Will was in his office bathroom, changing into his suit for the show that night. He opened the door to find Mackenzie perched on the edge of his desk. She was clutching her usual stack of notes and legal pads so tightly that her knuckles had turned white. Will stopped in his tracks when he saw her façade slip slightly to reveal something that rivaled the look on her face when she had walked into his office and told him they had to retract the Genoa broadcast.

“What?”

Mackenzie opened and closed her mouth several times before taking a deep, shuddering breath. “He’s dead.”

Will’s heart sank. “Another heart attack?” he asked.

Mackenzie’s expression transformed to a look of horror as she realized what he was saying. “What? No, my father is fine.” – her lip began to quiver and tears pooled in her eyes and silently began to fall – “Charlie was found unconscious in his hotel room in DC. They rushed him to the hospital, but they – He’s dead, Will.”

Will swayed on the spot, and Mackenzie’s pile of notes fluttered to the floor as she reached out to steady him. Together, they sank to the floor. Mackenzie gingerly crawled into his lap, made awkward by her pencil skirt and high heels. He felt her gently pull his hands away from where they covered his face, and he looked up at her. Tears were silently flowing down her cheeks, and when Will’s vision blurred, he realized he was crying too. He tightly wrapped his arms around Mackenzie’s body and pulled her close, resting his forehead against hers and using her familiar scent as an anchor.

“Wh–” – Will’s voice cracked and he tried again – “Who found him?”

“Leona,” Mackenzie said quietly. “They were supposed to be leaving for the National Press Club, and he wasn’t answering his phone, so she called hotel security and they found him… Reese called me… He thought I should be the one to tell you.”

Will didn’t say anything. They sat silently on the floor of his office until there was a knock on the door and Jenna stuck her head in.

“It’s, uh, ten minutes to air,” she said, giving them a curious look before ducking back out.

“We have to tell the staff,” Mackenzie murmured, slowly getting to her feet and reaching out her hand to help him up as well.

“Yeah.”

“Should we wait and tell them after? Should – I mean, do we make an announcement on air?”

It was one of the rare times Will ever remembered seeing her look so lost; not that he felt he was faring much better. He shook his head. “If we get the ‘go-ahead’ from Reese, we’ll do it at the end of the show…Give Nancy enough time to...” He swallowed hard. “Word will have started to spread by then… We have to tell them now.”

Mackenzie nodded and they made their way to the door, hand-in-hand.

They were edging towards five minutes to air now, and the bullpen was a flurry of activity. Maggie, whose desk was still the closest to Will’s office, spotted them first, and she froze at the twin looks on their faces. With both her hands clamped around one of Will’s Mackenzie silently shot Maggie a _look_ while Will cleared his throat.

“Guys,” he called across the room; his voice surprisingly unwavering, “Mackenzie and I need to tell you all something. Is, uh, everybody here?”

It felt like an eternity while they waited for someone to get the Control Room guys and a few others. The clock ticked closer to air and Mackenzie squeezed his hand tighter.

Will took a deep breath. “Charlie died a little while ago.” There was a sharp intake of breath from Maggie nearby, and several others cried out. He blinked rapidly and cast a sideways glance at Mackenzie before continuing. “We don’t know what happened yet, but we thought you should hear it from us… We may drop the F block to make the announcement; we’ll wait to hear from Reese. Until then, we’re going to do a broadcast that would make Charlie proud.”

Shakily, Will took one step, and then another, tugging Mackenzie along with him. Everyone in the bullpen was standing in varying degrees of shock. He didn’t catch anyone’s eye as he headed towards the studio. There were less than two minutes to air.

Will abruptly halted outside the door to the studio, causing Mackenzie to nearly bump into him.

“What can I do to help you get through this?” she asked him. She knew better than to ask, _Are you sure you can get through this?_ He’d decided to do it for Charlie; needed to do it for Charlie; _had to do it for Charlie_.

He squeezed her shoulders and looked her in the eyes with the same sort of determination and insistence he had when he was about to do the Bin Laden broadcast. “Mackenzie, I need you in my ear the whole time and I need you to not ever leave that Control Room.”

She rapidly jerked her head up and down in a nod; fighting back new tears that were threatening to form. “O – Okay. Yes, I promise. I won’t leave you.”

The broadcast was easily one of the hardest anyone had ever done – and they’d had their fair share of torturous ones lately with the Genoa retraction and Sandy Hook and the Boston Marathon bombing. And when they had gotten to the final commercial break, after Nancy and Reese and Leona had given permission to make the announcement, Maggie and Jim and Don turned up with an obituary package they’d put together. They got through it though – all of them – and at 9:05, everyone stood in the bullpen and toasted Charlie with a glass of bourbon.

Will and Mackenzie lay tangled together in bed a few hours later. They’d talked to Leona, who’d been so distraught that Reese had to take the phone from her, and Sophie, who had inherited her father’s stoic nature and sounded like she was doing okay. (As _okay_ as could be expected.) Arrangements would be made in the morning, Sophie had told them, once they could get Charlie’s body flown back to New York. Some of the staff had stayed at AWM, too in shock to go home to empty, quiet apartments in a Charlie Skinner-less world. Sloan, they knew, had been waiting for Don. Hallie, still relatively new to ACN, didn’t know Charlie quite as well as everyone else and had taken in upon herself to keep an eye on Jim and Maggie. A few others had disappeared; undoubtedly to seek comfort in their loved ones at home.  Mackenzie and Will had drifted home too, and they lay together in the darkness, silent except for their shallow breathing, bodies pressed together as a constant reminder that the other was there and not going anywhere.

“I don’t think I can do this anymore,” Will said, twisting his fingers in her soft hair. The seed had planted itself in his heart halfway through the broadcast and had since grown to infiltrate his brain. “I don’t know how to do the news in a world where Charlie…”

He had said it so quietly, that Mackenzie wasn’t sure if she’d actually heard him say the words. She shifted slightly in his arms and burrowed her face in the crook of his neck. “I know, Billy… We’ll figure it out.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think! I may possibly continue this story if I get inspired. We shall see...

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
